“Neither Black nor White: a New Approach to the Racial Plight in Jean Toomer’s Cane” at English Department
A presentation was given by Asst. Prof. Dr. Khadija Saed Ismael on Monday Feb. 17th at the Department of English for the teachers on “Neither Black nor White: a New Approach to the Racial Plight in Jean Toomer’s Cane”. Black writers reacted differently to the problem of racial discrimination. Jean Toomer is one of the American writers who tackled the issue of race. Toomer’s reaction to the horrified state of the Blacks in the South is revealed through his rejection of being labeled a Negro. Though this rejection has been interpreted as a disapproval of the black race and black culture, an accurate examination of his works would reveal that rather than denying black race Toomer was disaffirming race altogether. More importantly, Toomer worked for swaying away the restrictions posed on the issue of racial discrimination through claiming a universal existence of man, regardless of his color or the group he belongs to.